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The Monroe Doctrine as Interpreted 
by a Missouri Democrat. 



REMARKS 



CHAMP CLARK, 



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OF MISSOURI, 



DELIVERED IN THE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



Thursday, January 20, 1898. 



WASHINGTON. 

1898. 




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^. CUBA. 

V 

^Iie Monroe Docliino as Interpreted by a Missouri Democrat. 
-^' E E M A R K S 

OF 

CHAMP CLAllK. 



Tlie House bein^ in Committee of tlie "Whole on the state of the Union, ani 
having under cons'ideration the bill (H. R. Git!) ) malcing appropriations for th j 
diplomatic and consular service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1899— 

Mr. CLARK of Missouri said: 

Mr. Chairman: Surely tiie time for dilly-dallj'ing and sliilly- 
shaliying on the Culjan question is past. 

There never was any sense in mincing words about it. 

The hour for honest, courageous, unequivocal speech and action 
is at hand. 

OUR DUTY. 

Tliis Republic ought to grant belligerent rights to the Cuban ^ 
patriots. She should recognize the independence of Cuba. 

If Spain does not bring the war to a speedy conclusion, the 
United States ought to expel her from the Western Hemisphere. 

These things ought to be done in the cause of humanity. They 
ought to be done as the beginning of a sound and permanent busi- 
ness policy. 'A 

They ought to be done as evidence of our settled determination 
to be supreme in the affairs of our half of the world. 

Man does not live for himself aloae. Neither does a nation. 

Certainly we owe something to those struggling bravely for 
freedom at our very doors. They lighted their torch of liberty at 
our fire. They are only following our example. In a yarj large 
measure we are responsible for their conduct. 

We were the first rebels or revolutionists in this hemisphere; 
for let it never be forgotten that the only distinction between a 
rebel and a revolutionist is that the latter succeeds, while the 
former fails. It is not a difference of principle, but of results — ■ 
that is all. [Applause.] 

There can be no doubt as to what has been our traditional for- 
eign policy. What our foreign policy is under the McKinley 
Administration, like the peace of God, i:)assetli all understanding. 
[Laughter.] There ought to be no question as to our foreign 
policy in the future. Tersely and bluntly stated, it is this — and 
it ought to be enforced with iron hand — that we intend, at all 
hazards and at whatever cost, to thoroughly dominate the western 
world. [Applause.] 

THE SIONROE DOCTRINE. 

The germ of tlie Monroe doctrine is found in Ttiouias Jefferson's 
letter to President Monroe, bearing date of October 24, 1S2;3, in 
these words: 

The quostion presented Ly the letters you have sent mo is the most mo- 
mentous which has ever been offered to my contemplation since that of 
ind."i)er.dence. That made us a nation: this sots our compass and points the 
course which wo arc to steer thi-ouf^h liio ocean of time opening: on us. And 
never could we embark on it under circumstances more y.uspicious. Our 
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first and fiiBdamental maxim should bo never to entangle ourselves m tho 
broils»of Europe. Our second, never to suffer Europe to intermeddle with 
cis- Atlantic affairs. America, North and South, has a set of interests dis- 
tinct from those of Europe and peculiarly her own. She should therefore 
have a system of her own, separate and apart from that of Europe. While 
tlio last 'is laboring to become the domicile of despotism, our endeavor should 
surely be to make our hemisphere that of freedom. 

Monroe elaborated the idea as follows: 

With the movements in this hemisphere we are ot necessity more Imrae* 
diately connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlifjhtened 
and impartial observers. The political system of the allied powers is essen- 
tially different in thi.s respect from that of America. This difference pro- 
ceeds from that vrhich exists in their respective governments; and to the 
defense of our own, whicli has been achieved by the loss of so much blood 
and treasure and matured by the wisdom of our most enlightened citizens, 
and under which we have enjoved unexampled felicity, this whole nation is 
devoted. "We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations ex- 
isting between the United States and those powers to declare that we should 
consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of 
this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing 
colonies or dependencies of any European pov^^er we have not interfered and 
shall not interfere. But with the governments who have declared their in- 
dependence and maintained it, and whose independence wo have, on great 
consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any 
interposition for tho purpose of oppressing them or controlling in any other 
manner their destiny by any European power in any other light than as the 
manifestation of an imfriendly disposition toward the United States. 

That is the celebrated Monroe doctrine, as originated bj^ Thomas 
Jefferson and formulated by James Monroe in his message of 
'December, 1823. When he penned that fatefnl paragrapli Monroe 
little dreamed that he was laying hold of earthly immortality, 
but such is the truth of history. We are very much disposed to 
underrate Monroe, but to our Spanish- American neighbors he is, 
next to Washington, the great American. We neglect him, but 
they delight to build monuments to his memory. [Applause.] 

His utterance became part of our creed political. We have 
forced it into the code of international law. Other nations affect 
to sneer at it theoretically, but they never fail to give heed to it 
when we assert it in particular cases. 

A note from William H. Seward to Louis Napoleon caused that 
ambitious jingo to withdraw his victorious legions from Mexico 
when he was in the plenitude of his imperial power and when his 
arms glittered from China to Peru. [Applause.] 

That was the splendid, courageous, and magnanimous manner 
in which Republicans enforced the Monroe doctrine when their 
party was in its best estate, when Abraham Lincoln was at its 
head, and before sordid greed had come to completely dominate 
that great, historic organization. 

How are the mighty fallen! Then the Republican party might 
have stood against the world. Now none so poor as to do it rever- 
ence. 

EVILS OF M'HANXAISII. 

In these days of McHannaism our foreign policy is so feeble, so 
cringing, so cowardly that even old and decrepit Spain insults 
our flag, maltreats our citizens, and searches our ships with per- 
fect impunity; and President McKinley, instead of sending men- 
of-war to protect our honor, assert our supremacy, and teach the 
insolent and impotent "Dons" a lesson [applause] they would 
never forget, passes the hat around and invites the American 
people to contribute alms for the starving and dying Cubans. 
[Applause.] 
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THE MONROE UOCTRINE AS INTERPRETED BY A MISSOURI DEMOCRAT. 

The Monroe doctrine has grown with our growth, strengthened 
with our strength, increased with our territory. 

It ought to be enlarged, stretched, expLinded, until it becomes 
an irresistible force in international politics. 

In its infancy Mr. Monroe simply notified European nations that 
new schemes of colonization in this hemisphere would be regarded 
with an unfriendly eye by this Republic. That was a sufficient 
assertion of our i^osition so long as we were a feeble folk; but now 
that we are the most puissant nation on the globe, we should re- 
state our position and should at once signify to all European pow- 
ers that tliey retain a foothold in the Western Hemisphere only 
by our sufferance, that they are mere tenants at will, and that 
when notified by us they must vacate the premises. [Applause.] 

Congress should formulate the Monroe doctrine as we now 
understand it, and it should be in words about as follov/s: "The 
American Republic hereby takes all of North America, Central 
America, South America, and all the islands of the adjacent seas 
under the shadow of her protecting wing, guarantees to them any 
form of government they choose, and warns Europe, Asia, and 
Africa to keep their hands off the Western Hemisphere on tho 
penalty of being thrashed within an inch of their lives." [Ap- 
plaiise.] 

That Js the Monroe doctrine as interpreted by a Missouri Demo- 
crat. [Lau'j;hter.] We should extend a moral protectorate over 
them all. Not one of these Central or South American Republics 
can maintain its independence without our support. They caught 
the spirit of freedom from us. They copied their form of gov- 
ernment from ours. Round about the young and feeble Repub- 
lics already established in this hemisphere we should throw oiir 
friendship and influence, and we should encourage Cuba and all 
the rest of the West India Islands to unite themselves into a re- 
public of their own. The habit of representative government i3 
healthy and laudable. It should be fostered by us in every way 
possible. We should not only lend them our moral support, but 
should give them physical aid in cases of necessity. 

It is high time tliat we served plain and emphatic notice on all 
kings, emperors, princes, and potentates that the navies of trans- 
atlaritic powers shall not be used as collection bureaus for ques- 
tionable debts, as was done a year or two ago at Corinto, and as 
was done a month or so iigo at Haiti. [Applause.] 

THE CUBAIf CASE. 

The Cub;in Situation is this: For three years the insurgents have 
fought with a courage and suffered with a fortitude which have 
chalh'nged the admiration of all the v/orld, save and except the 
McKiuiey Administration. [Applause.] 

Three or four hundred thousand i>eople — some of the papers say 
GOO, 000— men, women, and children, have died, as much martyrs in 
Ihe cause of liberty as was "Warren, Montgomery, or any other 
hero who died tiiat we might be free, and yet the McKinley Ad- 
ministration lifts not its finger to stay the slaughter. 

Three or four hundred thoasand people— some of the papers say 
000,000— men, women, and children, are known to be dying by the 
slow and cruel process of starvation, and the McKinley Adminis- 
tration can think of nothing more effective for their relief than to 
pose as the Big Beggarman. 

The party of Sumner, Chase, and Seward, which proudly vaunted 
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itself as the friend of man, lias become the a,lly of pestilence, arson, 
famine, devastation, rape, and murder. [ApphAUse.] 

There is bat one safe"and honest rule of political conduct, and 
that is to religiously fulfill, when in power after the election, the 
promises made in order to win the election. 

Now, remembering that neither the present Administration nor 
the majority in this House can be persuaded, provoked, or driven 
into helping our imfortunate Cuban neighbors, let us see what the 
St. Louis convention said on tho subject. It is what Horace 
Greeley would have called " mighty rich reading." Here it is: 

From the hour of .achieviuET tlieii* own indopsndencs tho people of tha 
Uuiteci States have regarded with sympathy tho strugs^les of^other Ameri- 
can people to free themsoivog from Jiiirapean domination. We watch with 
deep and abiding interest the heroic battle of tho Cuban patriots aarainst 
cruelty and oppression, and our best hopes go out for the full success of their 
determined contest for liljerty. „ ^ , -, , . n 

The Government of Spain having lost control of Cuba, and bsmg unable 
to protect the property or lives of resident American citizens or to comply 
with its treaty obligations, we believe that the government of tho United 
States should"actively use its influence and good offices to restore peace and 
give independence to the island. 

That is what yon said in June, 1893, and you iutended to be 
understood as promising to give peace and independence to Cuba. 
Now, having the power, you do nothing to redeem that promise. 
You said it because you' knew the people demanded it. ^Yhat 
occult, what malign, what paralyzing influence prevents you now 
from keeping faith with the people? [Applause.] 

It is twenty-one months since you made the St. Louis pronuncia- 
mento. Everv day the condition in Cuba has grown Vv'orse. You 
won a stupendous victory; you have a brutal majority here, and 
yet you are afraid to open your chops or to say your souls are 
your own. Next fall, when you appeal to the people for their 
suii'rages, they ^vill say to you, " Depart, ye workers of iniquity " 
[laughter] . and will cast you into that outer darkness, where 
there will be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. [Ap- 
plause.] 

DEMOCRATIC AND REPUSLTCAN- FORKIGN POLICIES COXTItASTED. 

To every suggestion that we should reenter upon a vigorous 
foreign policy which will thoroughly protect American citizens 
and American interests on every part of the habitable globe we 
are met with the hysterical shriek that we are advocating war. 
It is not true, but siippose it were. There are some things worse 
than war, deplorable as war unquestionably is, and one of them 
is to play the cry-baby act until we are dcs-pised of all nations and 
kindreds and tongues. 

Thomas Jefferson was not a bloodthirsty soldier or a vain- 
glorious warrior. He was a man of peace, but he was also a self- 
respecting American, and when we were only a handful he dared 
to establish the embargo and to precipitate a war with the gTeat- 
est power in the world, for the war of 1812, our second war for 
independence, was Jeif erson"s war— a Democratic war, fought by 
Democrats and won by Democrats, when the forefathers of the 
present Republican party vrere holding the Hartford secession 
convention. [Laughter and applause.] 

William L. Marcy was not a soldier, but he was an American 
of the school of Jefferson, and when we were not half as strong 
as we are now. he was willing to go to war with the Austrian 
Empire, when at the zenith of her power, to protect the rights of 
the humblest of our naturalized citizens. [Applause. ] War was 
prevented only by the Emperor yielding to our demands. But 
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then it must be remembered that Marcy was a Democrat and 
consequently a patriot, proud of his country and ready to defend 
her rights to the uttermost. 

A Democratic foreign policy made the sentence " I am an Ameri- 
can" of more effect than the famous "Romanus sum"— made it a 
safe passport in every land and upon every sea. 

Now, that we number 70,000,000 souls, a Republican Adminis- 
tration can not be taunted, kicked, or cuffed into resenting any 
insult or demanding reparation for any injury. 

Such a contemptible and pusillanimous policy is enough to make 
Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Dupont, Farragut, and Porter restless 
m their coffins. 

Along in the late sixties Admiral Farragut was cruising in the 
Mediterranean and intimated to the Sultan that he would like to 
anchor his fleet in the Bosphorus. The Sultan conveyed the reply 
that that was a privilege accorded only to princes of the roval 
blood. Whereupon, Farragut, the grand American, sent the grand 
Turk this message: 

1 have SOO Amei-ican princes of tlio blood roval aboard ship. TIiav are 
entitled to the best of everythinar to be had. We are clearing our decks for 
action, and will call upon you in force. 

[Applause and laughter.] 

It is entirely superfluous to state that all restrictions were re- 
moved, all red tape cut, all the cobweb's of court etiquette swept 
avN^ay, and that Farragut went whither he pleased, anchored 
where he chose, and did as he v/ished. [Applause.] 

We desire peace as much as do the Republicans, but it is the 
sort of peace which Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield, the 
marvelous Jew, declared he secured for England at the Berlin 
International Congress— '-Peace with honor." The coining of 
that one jjhrase would have immortalized him if he had done 
nothing else. "Peace with honor," is what Democrats want. 
" Peace with dishonor" seems to satisfy the aspirations of Repub- 
licans. 

_ Just so that the President distributes " pie" in sufficient quan- 
tities they care nothing for the dying women and starving babies 
in " the gem of the Antilles." [Applause.] 

So long as voters can be hoodwinked with sonorous promises 
they are willing tliat American lives shall be sacrificed and Ameri- 
can property shall be destroyed ad libitum by the Spaniards, who 
hate and deride us. This is Repubhcan statesmanship, Repub- 
lican patriotism, and Republican humanity in an off year in our 
political system. [Applause.] 

A MISSOURI DEMOCRAT'S SPEECH ON ST. JACKSON'S DAY. 

On the 8th day of January— St. Jackson's day— and suppose 
Andrew Jackson were President now, what would he do? I do 
not know all that he would do, but I would risk my life on the 
proposition that he would give the Spanish butchers forty-eight 
hours to get out of Cuba, bag and baggage, and if they did not go 
at once, without standing on the order of their going, he would 
drive them into the sea or hang them as ruthlessly as he hanged 
Ambrister and Arbuthnot amid the wilds of Florida. 

This month, at the Omaha celebration of Jackson's astounding 
victory at New Orleans, my friend IMr. J. A. Graham, managing 
editor of the St. Louis Republic, made a speech in which he gave 
utterance to these manly, robust, and patriotic sentiments, which 
contain more genuine American spirit and worldly American wis- 

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dom than all the Republican speeches that I have heard since I 
have been in Congress: 

It can not have escapsci tlie iiotico of claai'-siglited i^atriots — 

Says Mr. Graham — 

that tho monarchs of Europe are meditating an assault upon the American 
system. The Italian dispute of a few years ago drew out theii- feoliug. Tho 
Cuban troubles have almost exposed their plans. 

They fear tho growing power of a free republic. The capacity of a free 
people to turn material resoiirces into weiilth, to invent, to labor with high 
intelligence as well as with patient industry, has excited their envy and dis- 
like. Ahead of them they see a time when all their armies and navie.s will bs 
but paper walls against the steady advance of a sovereign people. Mean- 
while their crazo for territorial aggrandizement turns their covetousness 
toward Central and South America. At the first favorable opportunity they 
will defy tho Monroe doctrine. 

If China is .seized and divided, there will be one more, and a very strong, 
incentive to destroy the Moiu-oa doctrine and control the future isthmia'h 
canal. 

For a century the doctrine of the Democratic party has been that peace is 
a surer guardian of the safety of our institutions than standing armies and 
monster navies. That doctrine is still the truth of Democracy, of Christian- 
ity, and of God. But peace with honor, decency, and self-respect piesunposea 
that we must bo lot alone. It is not Democratic doctrine that we should 
ever meekly endure insults; and most surely not Democratic doctrine that 
we should go down unarmed to defeat rather than prepare for war as the 
reply of freedom to the insolent threat of armored tyranny. 

More than that. I begin to think that the time has come when the honor 
and the success of the American nation requii'e a display of force commensu- 
rate with the range of our interests. We have been eniriloyed in the devel- 
opment of our domestic affairs. With our unparalleled" home markets, our 
v.nparalleled .standard of living, wo have supplied a demand for almost the 
whole of our own products. The opinion of foreign peoples we have cared 
for very little. It is unfoi-tunately true that the name of America i? flouted 
in every foreign country. Falsehood and iynarancs have been doing their 
work while we laughed at the lies. Now, however, our markets are con- 
ge.sted.^ Our marvelous industry, and our yet more marvelous machinery 
of production and transportation, hare surpassed our ability to ccnsume, 
great as it is. 

Perhaps the natural laws of trade -will bring eventually the markets we 
need for the healthy expansion of our exports and the constant employment 
of our artisan.?. But against intrenched prejudice progress is slow. It is to 
be deeply regretted, but it is a fact that in most of the world the only con- 
ception of national greatness is connected with the demonstration of physical 
power. Without dwelling on this fact and its logic, without being even as- 
sured that I am not wrong, I will say this much: The assertion of naval 
strength, the proved certainty of our defenses against possible attack, tha 
performance of a glorious deed by American .ships against a foe deemed by 
tho world powerful and brave, would constantly send thundering over the 
surface of the earth the grandeur of America in a language which would ba 
as plain to the Hankow celestials as to tho saunterers on the boulevards of 
Paris. 

True, there Is immeasurable potentiality in the citizens who can at a ^ord 
change the pruning hook into a sword and the sv/ord into the pruning hook. 
There is now no danger that we shall ever be conquered by a foreign foe. 
But our coast defenses are feeble; our Navy is ridiculously small in compari- 
son with the extent of our approachable shores. Monarchs of other nations 
know this and believe that a sudden attack would lay us under tribute, an- 
nul tho Monroe doctrine, hami^er our trade, and open Spanish America to 
their invasion. They have great navies and armies unemployed. What 
stimulates them most, perhaps, is that they associate an attack on the United 
States with a cessation of international d.angers from their own quarrels, 
with a muzzling of domestic discontents, and with that disgraceful lailure of 
democratic institutions which thoy so feverishly desire to hold as an ex- 
ample before their subjects. 

Still further. The Democratic party of the United States has a monetary 
system to advance for the welfare of all toiling producers. In iS'Jti the party 
e.spoused the cause of bimetallism and nominated a splendid young Nebras- 
kan as its champion. The monarchies of Europe, allied alwaj-s Avith plu- 
tocracy and privilege, repudiate bimetallism and reject with ott'ensive scorn 
every overture we make for tlie restoiation of silver money. 

If victorious war is the only way by which we can teach them to respect 

cur opinions and recognize the right of their own and our people to lift from 

the brow of labor the crown of thorns and lighten the galling burden of the 

cross of gold, then, speaking for at least one Jacksonian Democrat, I am will- 

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ing to say, let them liava it; let them learn the lesson, until their own shoul- 
ders run blood under the lash of aroused freedom and their knees bond under 
the pressure of a race that is as irresistible in conflict as it is beyond rivalry 
in the peaceful arts of industry. ^ ,. „. 

I do not speak for territorial conquest, for entanglmg alliances, or for any 
departure from the ti-aditious of true Jeffersoniau Democracy; but I speak 
in that Jacksonian spirit which hung British spies when they made them- 
selves overt enemies to this nation and met the flower of the British army 
beside the Mississippi on the day we celebrate. If we are to bo defied, I 
would have the Democratic party, and no other, the hrst to ring back dofa- 



the naw that will humble the insulter, if it takes a thousand battle ships 
and a billion of money. I would have the Jacksonian press and the Jackso- 
nian party send to the uttermost parts of the earth the refrain of the Jac^- 



party i 
sonian poet: 



"First on the land and first on the ocean. 
Flag of the rainbov/ and banner of stars." 



These words of Mr. Graham were fitly spoten, and are like 
apples of gold in picfcures of silver. They are American senti- 
ments, Democratic sentiments— Missom-i sentiments. They con- 
tain the prophecy of that vigorous American foreign policy which 
will be inaugurated, enforced, and perpetuated, if needs be at the 
cannon's mouth, when true and genuine Democrats once more 
control the destinies of the Republic, as they will surely do from 
and after high noon on March 4, in the year of our Lord and 
Master 1901. 

AN URGENT INVITATION TO REPUBLICANS. 

My Republican friends, I urgently invite you to lay aside the 
weight that is holding you down, assert your rights, and come out 
on the side of eternal justice and human liberty, thereby demon- 
strating that you are worthy of the high vocation wherein you are 
called. We Democrats and Populists stand here ready and anxious 
to remove from America her great reproach. We on this side 
will contribute 155 votes to the good cause. If only 24 righteous 
men can be found in this Republican Sodom— if only 24 Repub- 
licans will break their heavy yoke, defy their merciless task- 
masters, and join us in this noble work, before the sun sets thisi 
day we will send the glad tidings ringing round the world that; 
"Cuba is free! Free, thank God, by the act of the American 
Congress!" [Applause.] 
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